Bottomless shoe-form



(No Model.)

A. W. RDGERS.

BOTTOMLBSS $HOB FORM.

Patented July 7, 1885.

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STATES NITE ANDREW RV. ROGERS, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOTTOIVILESS SHOE-FQRM.

A SPECIFICATION forming part of Lette Application filed July 17. 1884.

To aZZ whom, it may concern Be it known that I, ANDREW W. Roenns, ofSalem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a-new and use ful Improvement in Bottomless ShoeForms, which will, in connection with the accompanying drawings, be hereinafter fully described, and specifically defined in the appended claims.

This invention has for its object certain improvementsin bottomless or hollow shoeforms, which are employed to hold the upper of boots and shoes in expanded form during the several stages of finishing the edge and bottom of the sole after the solid last has been removed; and it consists in the divers devices and the combinations thereof embodied therein, as will, in connection with the accompanying drawings, be hereinafter more particularly and fully set forth and claimed.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hollow form embodying my invention, and shown in position as when placed in the boot or shoe. Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the form in position as when being inserted in the boot or shoe. Fig. 3 is an inverted or under side plan view of the form shown in the preceding figures. Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken on line a :0, Figs. 1 and 3, and viewed as from the right in those figures. Fig. 5 is a similar section taken as on line \V W, Fig. 1, and as viewed from the right in that figure.

In said views, A represents that portion of the form which corresponds with the vamp portion of the shoe, and B represents that portion of the form which corresponds with the quarters of a shoe, this latter portion of the form constituting a single piece, curved at the heel and pivotally united with the vamp-like portion A by rivetsc c, which pass through and are secured in the overlapping portions of A B, as shown. By thus combining with the vamp-like portion of the form the heel portion curved at its rear to corre spond with that of the shoe, and pivotally united with the front part, the form may, when the parts are in the relative position shown in Fig. 2, be easily and readily inserted in the boot or shoe, although of the same length as the last on which the shoe was made, yet, when the heel portion is depressed to rs Patent NO. 321,640, dated July' 7, 1885.

(X0 model.)

rest on the insole of the shoe, the contact of the vertically-curved shoe-counter and correfectnall y prevent the heel portion of the form from being displaced by rising in the shoe while the same is being manipulated in the process of finishing the sole; and when such finishing is completed the pivoted rear part of the form facilitates its removal to the same extent as at its introduction to the shoe.

- As the ball of the boot or shoe is much wider than the heel or the leg of a boot, the ball or widest part of the form is forced togcther or compressed at each introduction into or removal from the boot or shoe, and is liable thereby to become permanently deformed or narrowed by such compression. 1 therefore secure in the form an elastic arch-like ribbon, d, of high quality of springsteel, secured to the form by small rivets e 0, arranged near the ends of the spring, in order that its arched central portion may not be weakened by the requisite holes for the rivets. This spring having a permanent elasticity, not only insures a. uniform bending of the form when so necessarily compressed, thereby preventing longitudinal fractures therein, but it serves to restore the form to the full width of the interior of the shoe when inserted therein and to its normal width when withdrawn therefrom.

I am aware that yielding bottomless forms, adapted to be inserted in shoes while thesoles were being finished, are not new, and that patentshave heretofore been issued therefor; hence i I make no generic claim thereto, but only to the improvements above described and herein next to be claimed, as follows, to wit:

1. A bottomless shoeforin, having vamp A, and the rear portion or quarters, B, united by pivots c, which respectively unite the front ends of the quarters with the rear end of the vamp at a point below the instep, substantially as specified.

2. In combination with a hollow shoe-former, an elastic metallic spring secured therein at or near the hall thereof, and adapted to maintain the normal expansion of the form, substantially as specified.

ASDREW W. ROGERS.

Witnesses:

EUGENE HUMPHREY, THOMAS XV. PORTER.

spondingly-curved rear of the form will ef- & 

